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unless something was done, the United States was facing a bleak future. A snapshot 

 of the natural resource situation in 1900 included the following: 



• U.S. farmers were clearing forest for agriculture at the rate of over 13 square 

 miles per day (and had been doing so since before 1850). Cropland was increasing at 

 about the rate of population growth — about 3-4 acres were being put under the plow 

 for each person added to the U.S. population. (In the 19th century the U.S. popula- 

 tion rose from 5 to 76 million.) 



• Wildfires were scorching 20-50 million acres of forest per year. 



• Due to such fires, 50-80 million acres of "cutovers" or "stumplands" continued 

 to remain barren and nonstocked with trees for decades. 



• Forest growth rates nationally were a fraction of harvest rates. Forest manage- 

 ment, as we know it today, was nonexistent on either public or private lands. 



• Due to market hunting and lax or nonexistent hunting laws, wildlife was a 

 basket case. If there had been an endangered species list, it would have included 

 many species that are abundant today, including white-tailed deer (which had been 

 extirpated entirely from most Eastern States), as well as elk, pronghorns, beaver, 

 moose, bighorn sheep, wild turkeys, egrets, herons, ibises, swans, wood ducks, 

 Canada geese, and many others. 



• What forest land existed near most urban areas had been heavily depleted to 

 provide fuel for domestic heating and cooking. 



The conservation movement of the turn of the century reflected a growing recog- 

 nition that prevailing practices were unsustainable and set in motion a series of 

 policy, technical, and other changes. The Forest Service was a product of this move- 

 ment. The policy framework that had emerged by the 1930s to address these prob- 

 lems focused on: 



• Promoting and encouraging the protection of forests, regardless of ownership, 

 from wildfire, insects, and disease. The Forest Service was a leader and catalyst for 

 cooperative fire control and public education efforts among the States, private forest 

 landowners, and the Federal Government. 



• The acquisition of scientific knowledge on the management of forests and wild- 

 life, and on the improved utilization of wood products. The Forest Service research 

 stations and the Forest Products Lab in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed significant- 

 ly to such improved knowledge. 



• Encouraging the productive management of private forest lands through tax in- 

 centives and technical and financial assistance. The Forest Service's State and Pri- 

 vate Forestry Division worked effectively with State Foresters on improving the 

 management of private forest lands (which today account for 80 percent of the Na- 

 tion's timber harvest). 



• The adoption and enforcement of strong State and Federal wildlife conservation 

 laws. While State fish and wildlife agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 had the lead in wildlife conservation, the Forest Service was an active participant in 

 their efforts. Aldo Leopold, considered by many to be the father of modern wildlife 

 management, was a Forest Service employee. 



• The acquisition and management of National Forests, National Parks, and other 

 public lands for both commodity and amenity uses and values. Between 1925 and 

 1945, almost 20 million acres of abandoned farms and cutover woodlands were incor- 

 porated into the eastern national forests (including the Green Mountain National 

 Forest). 



Since the 1930's, significant gains have been made in many natural resource 

 areas. For example: 



• Today the United States has slightly more forest area than it did in 1920, when 

 the era of major forest clearing for agriculture largely halted. Improving agricultur- 

 al productivity was a major factor in forestland stabilization. Currently, we have 

 about 70 percent of the forest area that existed in 1600. 



• Scores of forest-dependent wildlife species which were severely depleted, or even 

 on the brink of extinction, a century ago have made remarkable recoveries. The con- 

 cerns of wildlife managers have shifted in recent years to species requiring specific 

 types of habitat, such as the red-cockaded woodpecker in the South, Kirtland's war- 

 bler in the Lakes States, and the spotted owl on the Pacific Coast. 



• The area lost to uncontrolled forest fires has been reduced by 90 percent since 

 the 1930s. This, along with steadily increasing real prices for wood, has created pow- 

 erful incentives for both private and public forest landowners to increase invest- 

 ments in forest management. 



• Forest growth nationally has exceeded timber harvests since the 1950s. In 1991 

 forest growth nationally exceeded harvest by 33 percent. 



